An Interactive Experience・Participation Encouraged
DRAMATIS PERSONAE TIME Clara Warnaar, percussion IONE, voice EMMA STEBBINS (1815-1882) Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, ute Sculptor of the Bethesda Fountain, Wife of Celebrated Actress Charlotte Cushing EMILY WARREN ROEBLING (1843-1903) Raquel Acevedo Klein, vocalist Engineer who Completed the Brooklyn Bridge SHIRLEY CHISOLM (1924-2005) Shara Lunon, vocalist First Black Woman to be Elected to Congress, First Black Woman to Run for President RUTH BADER GINSBURG (1933-2020) Rebekah Heller, bassoon
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United States Supreme Court Associate Justice
CREATIVE + PRODUCTION TEAM JENNIFER WILLIAMS Concept, Creative Director + Executive Producer www.jenniferwilliamsdirector.com Acclaimed as a director of “particular ingenuity,” Jennifer Williams has created innovative productions worldwide. Praise for her multi-media approach to opera has been e usive, and her extraordinary vision yields indelible results. Site-speci c and immersive productions have been a recent hallmark of her work, distinguishing Williams as an artist who thrives on the unexpected. Her unique presentations have taken her to prestigious venues in New York, Berlin, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Washington, DC, with upcoming engagements in Hong Kong, New York and Austin. Traditional repertoire such as Rigoletto, La bohème and Les contes d’Ho mann have gured prominently in her career at theaters such as Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, among others, but Williams is also a passionate advocate of contemporary opera. Her direction of such works as Ainadamar, Dark Sisters, Sumeida’s Song, and Backwards from Winter have been described as “extraordinarily beautiful” and “consistently imaginative.” In addition, she has created installations for concert repertoire including Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder, and Schubert’s Goethe-Lieder. Williams is a Fulbright Scholar and holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and an A.B. with honors from the University of Chicago. Artist appears courtesy of Insignia Artists.
JUNGAH HAN Set Designer www.jungahhan.com Jungah Han is a New York based Set Designer in Theatre, Film, and Television. She has designed a various styles of theatre productions including selectively Vier Letzte Lieder by Richard Strauss (Alchemical Studio), My Onliness & Numbness: Chapter 2 (New Ohio Theatre), Shockheaded Peter, When the Rain Stops Falling (Cygnet Theatre), Coriolanus, Paradise Lost, Cardboard Piano, Measure for Measure (Yale Iseman Theatre), Solo Bach (Yale Cabaret), A Number (Cygnet Roland Theatre), and No Exit (Diversionary Theatre).
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She has associated and assisted several Broadway productions including Derren Brown Secret (Cort Theatre), Once On This Island (Circle in the Square Theatre, National Tour), Frankie& Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Broadhurst Theatre), Harlequinade (American Ballet Theatre), Rigoletto (Die Staatsoper Unter den Linden), and Tosca (Cincinnati Opera House).
NICK AUER Stage Manager https://www.nickauer.com/ Nick Auer is Brooklyn-based director, designer, and stage manager. His work pursues different relationships between audiences and live performance. He is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of the sitespeci c theater company The Brouhaha Theatre Project, and has directed ve productions for Brouhaha: Tunnel Odyssey (Prospect Park), Wrestling with Lesbians (The Tank), R&D: a nightmare in three owcharts (Dixon Place, The Keep), Heydays (Prospect Park), and Soft Boy (The Tank). Other directing highlights include Genesis 22 (Governors Island), Dif cult Discussion 42 (Philadelphia FringeArts), and Hoodoo (Assistant Director, Berlin). He works often on immersive theater experiences, and has worked extensively with the acclaimed immersive dance-theater company Third Rail Projects: Ghost Light (First ASM), Then She Fell (ASM), The Grand Paradise (ASM), The Moveable Feast (PSM), Behind the City (Assistant Production Manager). He has worked on productions at La Mama, HERE Arts, Abrons Arts Center, The Kitchen, The New Museum, The Bushwick Starr, and Lincoln Center Theater. He graduated from Bates College with a BA in Theater with a focus in Directing.
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ŽILVINAS JONUŠAS Assistant Set Designer + Technical Director http://zilvinasjonusas.com/ Žilvinas Jonušas is an interdisciplinary artist and a storyteller with background in performing arts and media. He holds B.A. in Theater/ Philology from Vilnius University, Lithuania; M.A. in Media Arts and M.F.A. in New Media Art and Performance from LIU, Brooklyn. Žilvinas has worn many hats while entertaining others. Born in Lithuania he has acted, danced, directed, wrote, designed and built sets in his native country and abroad. He has worked as art/tech director on lm sets and theater stages, designed lights for theater and lm and was part of crews which just made things run. In addition to his extensive theater work, Žilvinas is a screenwriter, lmmaker (of both live action and animated shorts) a lm composer, graphic designer and a visual artist.
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ASA BENALLY Costume Designer www.asabenally.com Asa Benally was raised on the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona. His grandmother, a traditional Navajo weaver and his father, a silversmith, fostered his love and appreciation for art and design. He went to on to study at the prestigious Parsons School of D e s i g n i n N e w Yo r k C i t y. I n 2 0 1 6 h e completed his M.F.A. in costume design at Yale University. His design aesthetic is derived from an interest in history and strong individuals. He lives and works in New York City.
DEVISING ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE
RAQUEL ACEVEDO KLEIN https://www.raquelacevedoklein.com/ Raquel Acevedo Klein is an active conductor, vocalist, composer, and instrumentalist from Brooklyn, NY. Raquel has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, Town Hall, BAM, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Celebrate Brooklyn!, Little Island, National Sawdust, the Guggenheim, Rockefeller Center, the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and elsewhere. She has premiered works and operas by Philip Glass, Caroline Shaw, John Adams, Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Bryce Dessner, Missy Mazzoli, and George Lewis to name a few. She has recorded and performed with artists including Glen Hansard, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, The National, Grizzly Bear, Cory Smythe, Sufjan Stevens, The Knights, NY Philharmonic, and the American Composers Orchestra. She conducts for the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra among others. Her performances and curations have caught the attention of publications including the NY Times, LA Times, The New Yorker, and Time Out New York.
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ISABEL LEPANTO GLEICHER https://isabellepantogleicher.com/ Flutist Isabel Lepanto Gleicher has been called “excellent” by The New York Times. Isabel is an artist member of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wild Up, new music sinfonietta Ensemble Echappe, the Annapolis Chamber Music Festival, and the band ShoutHouse. She is also a founding member of Song Sessions Collective: a collective of four improvisers who create an everchanging work based on the structure of whale songs through the use of utes, clarinets, sine-tones, and an LED light installation. Isabel has had the opportunity to premiere works by Steve Reich, George Lewis, Missy Mazzoli, John Zorn, Augusta Read Thomas, and Dai Fujikura among others. Isabel has been called a “rising talent and stand out performer in the new music scene” by Miller Theatre. In 2018, she was featured in a solo recital on Miller Theatre’s Pop Up series. In 2020 Isabel has presented several solo performances that included original works: International Contemporary Ensemble series Tues@7, ChamberQUEERantine Virtual Festival, Recital Stream and George Mason University’s Mason Arts at Home. You can hear Isabel on Wild Up’s latest album Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine, The Bells Bow Down: The Music of Ilari Kaila, Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Aequa, and San Fermin’s The Cormorant I. Isabel has earned an MM in Contemporary Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, an MM from the Yale School of Music, and a BM from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music.
REBEKAH HELLER http://www.rebekahheller.com/ Former Ensemble Artistic Director Rebekah Heller's work aims to expand the sonic possibilities of her instrument — both in her solo work and through a deep collaborative practice. Called "an impressive solo bassoonist" by The New Yorker, she is dedicated to exploration, experimentation, and the democratization of sound. As bassoonist of the International Contemporary Ensemble since 2008, Rebekah has premiered hundreds of groundbreaking new works worldwide. She has two solo albums of music written for and with her, and in 2018, Rebekah made her solo debut with the New York Philharmonic. She currently serves as the co-chair of the Wind Department at the Mannes School of Music, where she has been on the faculty since 2019.
IONE http://www.ionedreams.us/ IONE is an author/playwright/director and an improvising text-sound artist. She has taught and performed throughout the world with her creative partner and spouse of 30 years, Pauline Oliveros. Their work, the Nubian Words for Flowers; A Phantom Opera, was completed a year after Pauline's passing, and opened at Roulette Intermedium in November 2017 ("a stunning work" Marc Swed, LA Times.) NWF The Pocket Edition was presented at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center in February '20.
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Earlier large music theater works include Njinga the Queen King; The Return of a Warrior (BAM’s Next Wave Festival 1993), Io and Her and the Trouble with Him; A Dance Opera in Primeval Time- The Lunar Opera: Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the lm, Dreams of the Jungfrau all with music & sound design by Oliveros. IONE's memoir, Pride of Family; Four Generations of American Women of Color, was a New York Times Notable Book on its publication "- a masterpiece of narrative, history, and re ection." Mary Bilge- U Boston. A journalist for many years IONE, published in major magazines and newspapers throughout the 80s including The Village Voice, The Gannet Chain and Vogue. She was Artistic Director of Deep Listening Institute, Ltd and is currently a Consultant at the Center for Deep Listening ®, RPI. As Founding Director of M.o.M., Inc. (The Ministry of Maåt), IONE conducts seminars throughout the world, disseminating the work of Pauline Oliveros and encouraging a vibrant international community of writers, visual artists, and musicians.Her latest work is TOUCH with composer Karen Power, for the Irish National Opera in 2021.
SHARA LUNON https://www.sharalunon.com/ Shara Lunon is a multidisciplinary vocalist based in New York City. Her artistic career leads with a Black American focus, using the full range of the voice in sound, wordplay, and visual art. Shara combines both improvised and scored vocals with intention of lyric (text and melody) over beat-heavy rhythms and ethereal ambiance. She has toured with several bands and as a soloist in South America and Europe. Shara received her undergraduate degree in Ethnomusicology from the University of Florida and a Vocal Certi cate from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Throughout her career, Shara has focused on collaboration and improvised arts, working with several art collectives as well as the Nordic Black Theater in Oslo, Norway. Additionally, she has worked as a Program Assistant at National Sawdust for the Hildegard Initiative and has published poetry, most recently featured in the Gothamist. Shara is currently working towards her Masters in Music in Performance and Composition at the New School. IG:@sharalunon
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CLARA WARNAAR https://www.clarawarnaar.com/ Clara Warnaar is an artist based in New York, working as a percussionist, drummer, and composer. Clara performs regularly with the International Contemporary Ensemble and plays drums in bands In nity Shred and Real Loud. As a performer and collaborator, she shines in collaborative, devised and interdisciplinary projects. Recent premieres and recordings include: Ted Hearne "PLACE" (Brooklyn Academy of Music), Missy Mazzoli "Proving Up" (Opera Omaha and Miller Theater), Steve Reich "Reich/ Richter" (The Shed NYC), Ellen Reid "Run/ Playground" (Opera Omaha) and So Percussion "A Gun Show". Clara’s own compositional style merges eld recordings, classical music and electronics, with a focus on cinematic narrative, as can be heard in her debut album Hollow Siren.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Archives of Women’s Political Communication, Iowa State University Brooklyn Historical Society, Center for Brooklyn History Columbia Law School Columbia University Archives “Mrs. Roebling’s Skill.” New York Times. 23 May 1883. “Mrs. Roebling Highly Honored.” Trenton Evening Times. March 1889. NYC Department of Records and Information Services Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries Wellesley College Archives
Graphic Design Credit: Eva Parr
“ G R O U N D S ” i s a re c i p i e n t o f Brooklyn Arts Council’s Brooklyn Arts Fund and Local Arts Support grants, as well as a Restart NY grant. This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the O ce of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and also sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural A airs, both administered by Brooklyn Arts
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Council (BAC).